


The Accident

by Traw



Category: Hawaii Five-0 (2010)
Genre: Angst, Friendship, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Pre-Slash, Slash
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-05-27
Updated: 2019-05-31
Packaged: 2020-03-20 11:45:58
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 5
Words: 5,181
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18992014
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Traw/pseuds/Traw
Summary: Kono Kalakaua stared at the shattered, burnt remains of what was once Danny's car, wrapped around the base of a tree. She shook her head as her hand lightly touched a piece of the still warm, charred metal, she couldn't believe that Danny was really gone. "Do you really this was an accident?" she asked.





	1. Chapter 1

Kono Kalakaua stared at the shattered, burnt remains of what was once Danny's car, wrapped around the base of a tree. She shook her head as her hand lightly touched a piece of the still warm, charred metal, she couldn't believe that Danny was really gone. What had started off as an easy Sunday, wrapping up cases while McGarrett was away, had now ended in tragedy.

She swallowed hard as she remembered her light teasing of Danny earlier in the day, claiming the detective's decision to go to re-interview a witness in preparation of an upcoming court case was just an excuse for him sneak off to the North Shore. She had playfully accused him of wanting to try and flirt with some of the world-class models who were working on a big photo-shoot on Pupukea Beach while Steve was away.

She stared at the wreckage, still unable to believe that this was really happening, and she found herself praying that Danny had not been conscious when the car had burst into flames.

"Danny would have died instantly." Charlie said softly, lightly placing his hand on the young Five 0's rookie's back, answering Kono's unvoiced fear before he asked, "Does Steve know?"

Kono swallowed hard and shook her head. "Chin tried to contact him after HPD contacted us about the…the accident. But the ship he is aboard is involved in some sort of military games and is observing complete radio silence until it finishes. There's no way to contact Steve until then." Forcing herself to turn away from the car, Kono looked back up the trail of broken and crushed undergrowth to the muddy road above them before she looked back at forensic specialist, "Do you really think this was an accident?"

Charlie, startled by Kono's question because of the overwhelming evidence of the skid marks on the muddy road above that indicated that Danny had lost control of his car as he rounded the bend and that there was nothing at all to indicate that any other car had been involved, stared at the upset rookie and frowned. "Don't you?"

Looking back at the wreckage in which Danny had lost his life only a few short hours before, Kono shrugged.

H50 H50 H50


	2. Chapter 2

"He was only going to the North Shore to go over Sullivan's statements and help Sullivan prepare for the court case this week." Kono murmured as she stood outside Danny’s cubicle, staring at the empty desk.  She still could not believe that Danny was really gone. "I teased him about trying to sneak off, while Steve's away, to go and flirt with some models."

"Cuz…" Chin said softly, in an attempt to stop Kono’s self-recrimination.

Spinning back to face her cousin, Kono was unable to stop her tears from falling, "He was supposed to be on the North Shore, Chin, what was he even doing on that dirt road on the Pali?"

"I don't know,” Chin answered quietly as he walked across and hugged her tightly, the same questions that Kono was demanding answers to were also going through his mind. Questions he had no answers to.

The sound of the office glass doors swishing open pulled Chin from his depressing thoughts and releasing Kono, he turned and watched as Charlie entered the office.

He paused just inside the doors, glancing at Kono who had turned back to stare back into Danny’s cubicle before returning his attention back to Chin. Walking slowly across to Chin, he handed him a slim manila folder as he told Chin softly. "I have my preliminary report of the accident."

Chin nodded silently and carried the manila folder unopened to the computer desk, not yet willing to read the forensic details of Danny's final moments as Charlie slowly followed him and hesitantly began his report. "The car was traveling about sixty miles an hour before Danny…" Charlie swallowed hard, casting a quick glance back at Kono who did not seem to be listening before returning his attention to Chin as he forced himself to continue his report as professionally as he could, "Ummm…before the driver lost control on the muddy road causing the car to leave the road and crash over the steep embankment. The fuel tank was ruptured as the car traveled through the undergrowth and the fuel ignited when the car hit the tree, engulfing the car in fire… There…there was no chance for…" Charlie look down, unable to look at either of the two cousins as he cleared the lump from his throat and continued, "There would have been no time for anyone to escape, even if they were able to get out of the car."

"Was there any possibility of any other cars being involved?" Chin asked quietly.

Shaking his head, Charlie answered, unable to force himself to sign into the computer and bring his findings up on the screen, "There were no signs of any other cars involved, all the tire tracks at the scene have been accounted for and there was no damage to Danny's car that indicated that he might have been forced off the road. All the damage to Danny’s car is consistent with what I would expect to see from such a high-speed collision."

"Could the accident have been caused by some mechanical fault with the car? Maybe Danny's brakes failed or the accelerator…"

"I checked," Charlie replied softly, before taking a deep breath as he looked across at Kono who did not even appear to be listening to the conversation before looking back at Chin, "I'm sorry, Guys, but it looks like speed and driver error were responsible for the accident."

"He knew that road was dangerous when it's raining, why was he driving so fast?" Kono demanded as she suddenly spun around to face Chin and Charlie, her anger, frustration and grief bubbling over.

"Detective Williams might have known that that road was dangerous in the wet," Max Bergman announced as he entered the office. "But whoever was driving Detective Williams's car at the time of the accident might not have known the road was dangerous when it is raining." Kono, Chin and Kono spun around and stared at the coroner in surprise as Max as the coroner joined Chin and Charlie at the computer desk before handing Chin the folder containing the autopsy results, "My autopsy findings on the driver found in Detective Williams's car and I have come to the conclusion that the driver of the car was not Detective Williams."

"Are you sure, Max?" Kono asked hesitantly, unable to believe or even hope that the blackened body removed from the shattered remains of Danny's car was not Danny’s.

Max blinked in surprise at Kono’s question as he turned to face her, "Positive. Although the body was burned beyond recognition, making it difficult to make a positive ID, I used dental records to try and make a positive identification. They were not a match and I am confident that DNA results will confirm my conclusions, the man who died driving Detective Williams's car was definitely not Detective Williams."

"Then, who was driving Danny's car?" Charlie asked as he looked first at Kono and then at Chin in confusion.

“And why?” Chin frowned.

"And where's Danny?" Kono voiced the question that they were all thinking.

H50 H50 H50

_"This was supposed to be just a simple job, just make sure that Sullivan knew to keep his mouth shut at the trial tomorrow! No one was supposed to get hurt, we were just supposed to scare him!"_

_"How the Hell did I know the cop would be there?"_

_"You didn't have to shoot him!"_

_"It was him or us, he was going for his gun! What else was I supposed to do?"_

Michael Sullivan stopped struggling against the ropes that bound him to the chair as he listened in fear to the argument in the next room. His heart was beating wildly in his chest as the memory of the detective's bravery when the three armed men had stormed the house. Williams had tried hard to protect him, but the odds had just been too great. He swallowed the hot bile that rose in the back of his throat as he remembered the loud volley of shots before Williams had fallen, the side of the Five 0 detective's face and head had been covered in blood. Closing his eyes, he could still see Williams's motionless body lying on the floor and the burgundy puddle pooling beneath the detective's head before he was dragged out of the house.

_"You going to bring the heat down on us, they're going to be looking for him."_

_"Let them look, they're not going to find anything. Kimo's getting rid of the body and his car. Even if they do eventually find his body there's nothing that's going to lead that dead cop back to us. So, stop worrying!"_

_"Stop worrying? Do you know even who that cop you shot was? He was Five 0, and not just any one of McGarrett's Five 0 three little piglets. Oh no. you had to shoot his partner- Williams!"_

_"So I knocked off McGarrett's partner, ain't no big loss, Bruddah."_

_"And what about Sullivan?"_

Holding his breath, Michael strained to hear the rest of the conversation as the men moved away and he heard a door open.

_"What about him?"_

_"He saw what happened to … "_

The slamming of the door cut off the rest of the conversation and the terrified man began to desperately struggle against the ropes that bound him, trying to loosen them.


	3. Chapter 3

"I told you not to turn down this dirt road," Patty Johnston complained at her husband as the car hit another large bump in the road and she grabbed the dash to stop herself from painfully bumping against the window. "We should have stayed on the highway."

"You always said you wanted to see the real Hawaii." Her husband grinned as he took his hand off the steering wheel and waved towards the thick rainforest that grew close to the road's edge before he quickly grabbed the steering wheel again as the car's rear wheels slid in the soft mud as he teased. "How more real can you get than this? I keep expecting to see a Hawaiian warrior step out from the trees any-"

"Oh God, Brian, stop the car!" Patty gasped staring out of the window at the disheveled figure that staggered out of the tree line and collapsed next to the road.

"What?" Brian asked in confusion as he turned and looked at his wife,

Patty turned, her eyes wide with shock and her face as white as a ghost as she grabbed her husband's arm tightly. "Please Brian, stop the car!"

"Why?" he asked as he slowed the car to a complete stop as fast and as carefully as he could on the slippery track. "What's wrong?"

"There's - there's a man…back there." Patty stammered pointing back in the direction they had just come as she turned and opened the car door and began to scramble out. "I - I think he's hurt."

"A man? Where?" Brian frowned as he followed Patty out of the car and down the road, his eyes scanning the side of the road for the man his wife had seen.

"Over here." Patty called as she slid down the slight embankment and dropped to her knees.

Sliding down the embankment to join his wife, Brian stared down at the bloodied and mud smeared man who was lying face down in the lush undergrowth.

"Do you think he's alive?" Patty whispered as she looked up at her husband, as her hand hovered uncertainly above the man's back, almost as if she feared touching him.

Kneeling beside his wife, Brian gently placed his fingers against the man's cool neck, releasing a breath he had not even realized he was holding as he felt a weak beat beneath his fingertips. "He's alive." He told Patty as he rolled the unconscious man over onto his back.

Patty gasped at the sight of the deep rugged wound on the side of the young man's head that was clotted with a mixture of mud and blood.

"That's a gunshot wound." Brian frowned as he pulled his handkerchief from his pocket and tried to wipe some of the burgundy gore away.

"Are you sure?" Patty whispered as she glanced at her husband before looking back down at the injured man.

"Of course, I'm sure," Brian snapped, "I saw enough of them when I was in Vietnam to know one when I see one." Lowering his voice and gentling his tone, he reached down and slipped his hands beneath the unconscious man's shoulders and began to pick him up as he softly instructed his wife, "Patty, I need you to help me get him into the car. We need to get him to a hospital."

Nodding silently, Patty grabbed the man's legs, staggering a little under the man's weight as she helped Brian carry him up the embankment and to their car.

H50 H50 H50

Duke glanced up from the notes he had just jotted down as Chin's car slid to a stop just behind the HPD patrol car. He turned to the woman beside him and quickly excused himself before he hurried across to Chin as the Hawaii Five 0 detective climbed out of the car.

"Is there any updates on Danny's condition?" Duke asked as he reached Chin.

Chin shook his head and sighed. "Not yet. Kono's at the hospital, she promised to update us as soon as there is any word." Glancing at the grey haired, frightened looking woman whom Duke had been talking to when he had arrived, the Five 0 detective asked, "Is that one of the tourists who found Danny?"

Nodding as he turned to lead Chin back to where the woman stood waiting, Duke answered softly, "Her name is Patty Johnston and her husband is Brian." Canting his head in the direction of the man who was giving his own version of events to another HPD officer, several feet away from where his wife was now waiting, Duke continued, "They're from New York and are visiting Hawaii to celebrate their forty-fifth wedding anniversary. According to Mrs Johnston, today her husband decided to get away from the usual tourist spots and explore the island a little. That's why they were driving along this road. She saw Danny emerge from the rainforest and collapse near the side of the road. She made her husband stop the car and check on him. As soon as they realized how seriously he was injured, they placed him in the car and raced him to the hospital. I took their initial statements after I arrived at the hospital, but I thought I would bring them back here to the precise location where they found Danny and so they could walk us through what happened."

"Thanks Duke," Chin said softly as they reached the older woman who was watching them.

After introducing the Five 0 detective to Patty, Duke asked her to tell Chin just what had happened when she and her husband had first seen Danny.

Chin glanced at the thick rainforest surrounding them before returning his attention back to the petite woman as Patty bit her bottom lip. She hesitated for a moment as she looked around, re-orientating herself before she pointed to a small break in the trees. "That's where I saw him come out of the rainforest, he was covered in dirt and blood. At first I thought I was imagining things but then…" she paused and swallowed as she remembered the sight of the bloodied young man as he staggered towards the road. Shaking her head, she turned and pointed to an area where the ferns and undergrowth was crushed and flattened as she forced herself to continue. "That's where he fell. I told my husband to stop the car and when we ran back to where I saw him. I- I honestly thought he was dead when we reached him."

Chin nodded as Duke turned and headed across to the area where Patty had indicated she had first seen Danny emerge from the tree line and began to search.

"I was really scared that he was going to die in the car when we raced him to the hospital. I mean he was shot in the head and there was just so much blood." Patty rushed on, before she hesitated and asked, "I overheard one of the policemen talking, he said that the young man was a Five 0 detective just like yourself. Do you know if he is going to be okay? The doctors wouldn't tell us anything at the hospital when we asked."

"I don't know." Chin answered honestly as he glanced across at Duke who was searching the area where Patty had indicated that she had seen Danny emerge from the tree line.

"Chin, I've got a blood trail." Duke called as he turned back to towards Chin.

Excusing himself, and asking Patty to remain where she was, Chin hurried across to where Duke stood, waiting for him.

Following the droplets of blood and trampled undergrowth, being careful not to disturb any evidence that might be collected later, they made their way back through the thick forest, retracing Danny's steps. Several slip marks and handprints in the mud along the trail they were following, where it was evident Danny had fallen and then had made himself get to his feet again to continue, told the two men just how hard the hard the journey to try and find help had been for their friend.

Reaching a small clearing, Duke froze as he found himself staring at the pile of broken branches, dirt and mud that lay scattered around a shallow, man size hole dug into the damp ground that the trail of blood and broken underbrush they had been following led back to. "Oh, my God." Duke gasped as Chin stepped around him and froze, staring at the now empty grave as Duke whispered in horror, "Danny must have been buried alive."

Swallowing the hot bile that rose in the back of his throat, Chin could only nod.


	4. Chapter 4

_"And news just in, a driver has been killed in a fiery crash on a dirt road, just off the Nu'uamu Pali Drive. Police_   _state it is believed that speed and driver error may have contributed to the crash and the driver was killed when the car left the road at high speed after sliding in muddy conditions before becoming airborne and smashing into a tree. The car is believed to have erupted into flames on impact. The driver is believed to have been killed instantly. Although the driver's body has not yet been formally identified, an unnamed source from HPD has stated it is believed the driver was Hawaii Five 0's Second-In-Command, Detective Danny Williams."_

Kamaru looked up from the book he was reading and stared in disbelief at the TV as the other inmates around him began cheering and hooting, drowning out the newscaster's words. "Did he say Williams? Five 0's Williams?" he asked the man sitting next to him, momentarily uncertain if he had heard the name correctly.

"Yeah," the inmate laughed in delight, grinning as he turned and looked at Kamaru, "looks like McGarrett's buddy has turned himself into a slab of overcooked bacon, just a shame McGarrett wasn't in the car with him!"

Turning back to stare at the TV, Kamaru tried to block out the celebratory noises around as he tried hard to listen to the news report as the photo of the burnt remains of a car on a tow truck and a recent photo of Williams taken at a crime scene were shown side by side on the TV screen.

_"Our calls to the Hawaii Five 0 Task Force headquarters to confirm the identity of the dead man is Detective Danny Williams have gone unanswered. We will bring further updates to this breaking story as they become available…"_

"Kamaru!"

He spun around as he heard his name shouted by the guard as the guard ordered, "Get yourself down to the visitor's room, wiki wiki, your lawyer's waiting for you."

Slowly rising from his chair, Kamaru glanced back at the TV and grinned, unable to believe his luck if indeed Williams was dead, "I bet he is!"

"Well, what the Hell are you waiting for, Kamaru, get moving," the guard growled before he looked back at the rest of the inmates who were all laughing and slapping each other on the back, obviously celebrating something they had just seen on TV. "And if the rest of you don't settle down, I will arrange for you all to go into lockdown!" he threatened.

H50 H50 H50

Staring into the cup of cold black sludge, tentatively called hospital coffee, that she held between his hands, Kono wondered just how Steve, Chin and Danny did this each time someone was injured. The waiting was agony but the fear of not knowing if a colleague was going to recover was nothing short of torture. She sighed and glanced up at the clock on the wall. 6.05 pm. She sighed again, the doctors had been with Danny in the examination room for over an hour and there was still no update on Danny's condition. Placing the mug onto the small table beside the chair, she rose and walked across to the window before staring out across the hospital's gardens below.

She turned when she heard the waiting room door open and watched warily as the doctor enter the room. "Doc? How is he?" she asked warily.

"Detective Williams is a very, very lucky young man," the doctor told the worried Five 0 rookie as Kono hurried across to join him. "The bullet grazed the side of his head but, thankfully, although it fracture his skull, it didn't penetrate the skull."

"Thank God," Kono murmured.

"We will be observing him closely for any bleeding on his brain for the next twenty-four hours." the doctor continued, canting his head towards the chairs that lined the wall in a silent request for Kono to sit so they could talk. Sitting down beside Kono, he quietly continued, "But even though the bullet hasn't penetrated his skull, Detective Williams's condition is extremely serious. As well as the fracture to his skull, he has a severe concussion and suffering from massive blood loss from the bullet bullet graze, itself, is extremely contaminated with mud and debris. We also found fine debris and mud in Detective Williams's mouth and throat and X-rays we took of his chest show several strange shadows in his lungs."

"Mud in his mouth and throat?" Kono frowned as she stared at the doctor in confusion, "How would he have gotten mud in his mouth and throat?"

"Danny probably breathed it in after whoever shot him buried him alive!"

Kono and the doctor looked up in surprise as Chin entered the room and closed the door behind him.

"Danny was buried alive?" Kono stared at her cousin in horror, "Are you sure?"

Chin nodded, "We found an empty, freshly dug, shallow grave when we followed the blood trail from where Danny was found back into the rain forest. Charlie and the lab guys are going over it now, but it looks like someone dumped Danny in a shallow grave and then tried to cover his body with soil and broken branches and twigs."

"That would explain the mud and debris in the bullet graze and the unidentified shadows we saw in his lungs on the x-rays." The doctor murmured, the horror of hearing what had happened to his patient and the large range of complications, not only physical, but also emotional and psychological, that Detective Williams might face because of it, was written clearly on his face.

"We think that Danny somehow managed to dig himself out and get to the road for help." Chin continued, swallowing hard as the memory of the empty grave that Danny had been buried in slammed back into his mind. "He…he was lucky that the two tourist drove past when they did…"

"He certainly had a guardian angel watching out for him today," the doctor breathed his agreement, "but I'm afraid he's going to be our guest for a few days. I understand that Commander McGarrett is listed as Detective Williams's next-of-kin."

"He is," Chin answered, "but he's been involved in the Navy military games just off the coast. I was able to contact him a few minutes ago on my way to the hospital and told him Danny had been admitted to the hospital after being shot." Looking at his cousin, he told her, "The connection was bad and I wasn't able to go into any details but Steve has managed to get a ride on the next flight back to Honolulu and should be landing at Hickam Air Force Base in about an hour."

"I see," the doctor nodded as Chin turned back towards him.

"Doc, is it possible for us to see Danny?" Chin asked, desperate to reassure himself that Danny was alive after seeing the grave that Danny had managed to escape from.

"Of course," the doctor nodded, understanding the two Five 0 officers' desperation to see their friend. "Detective Williams is still unconscious and we are preparing to take him up to the OR to debride, clean and then stitch his bullet graze before we settle him into a room. But I can see no reason why you can't see him for a couple of minutes before we take him up to the OR."

"Thanks Doc," Chin said softly as he and Kono rose to their feet and slowly followed the doctor out of the small waiting room.


	5. Chapter 5

Standing with his back to the door and his hands clasped behind his back, Ken Travis stared at the old faded sign remindinging visitors of the 'No contact rule' that hung on the peeling and paint-chipped green wall. He frowned as his thoughts drifted back to the man whom he had come to the prison to see as he tried to decide just how much he was going to tell his client about what had happened a few hours ago when serendipity had nicely intervened, killing two birds with one stone.

Deciding the less that Kamaru knew, the better it was not only for Kamaru but for everyone else involved, after all, his newest client had the reputation of being a big mouth who tended to brag. The man was a definite liability, a liability who couldn't be trusted to keep his mouth shut. And it was his bragging that had landed them in this mess.

He turned as he heard the door open behind him and watched as Kamaru was led into the room and directed to take a seat at the old wooden table in near where he stood. The large Hawaiian grinned at him as he swaggered across to the chair situated on the other side of the table, pulling it noisily across the cement floor before flopping down on it. Looking back at the guard, the lawyer dismissed him with, "I need to finish preparing my client for his trial tomorrow, I will let you know when we have finished."

Glancing at Kamaru before looking back at his expensive looking lawyer, the guard shrugged, "I'll be right outside the door. Just knock to let me know when you are finished."

Travis nodded silently as the guard turned and walked out of the room.

Waiting until the guard had closed the door behind him, Kamaru grin grew as he looked up at his lawyer and asked, "Is it true, Bruddah? Is Williams really dead?"

"It's true," Travis smiled, aware that even the cops believed it was Williams driving the car, "he was killed in a car accident this morning. A buddy of mine at HPD told me that the investigation into the accident so far indicates that driver error and speed are to blame for the crash and although the body was burned beyond recognition, and hasn't been identified yet, it's only a formality. It was Williams's car, and no one doubts that he wasn't the driver."

"Yes!" Kamaru punched the air and laughed with delight with the confirmation of Williams's unexpected death before he grew serious and looked back at his lawyer, "What about Sullivan?"

"All taken care of, just like we promised," Travis reassured him. "You don't have to worry about him turning up at the trial tomorrow to testify. And now, without Williams to testify as well, the case against you is totally circumstantial and most of that circumstantial evidence is extremely weak without the Williams's or Sullivan's testimonies. There's no way the DA is going to be able to prosecute you. I can guarantee that the judge will have no other option but to throw the case out. This time tomorrow, you should be a free man."

"Oh man," Kamaru ran a hand over his face, unable to wipe the excited smile from his face as he stared past Travis at the wall, "a free man!" He breathed, almost in disbelief at the words he was uttering. His smile suddenly faded, and he looked back at his lawyer with fear in his eyes as he asked, "But what about McGarrett?"

"What about McGarrett?" Travis frowned.

"Well… with Williams managing to off himself in that accident today and then when Sullivan doesn't turn up at the trial tomorrow, he's gunna be suspicious." Kamaru whispered nervously, looking around the room, fearful that the guards were somehow able to listen in on conversations. Turning back to Travis, he swallowed hard, "And who's he gunna come after? I will tell you who! Me, Bruddah, that's who! He's gunna want to know what happened to Sullivan. Oh, man- "

"Don't worry about McGarrett, he's going to be taken care of!" Travis answered cryptically before he turned and walked to the door. Turning back to Kamaru, he added, "Just remember all you have to do is keep your mouth shut if you want to get out of here tomorrow, not only in here, but also in the courthouse. Just let me do all the talking. And I promise that if you do that, then you will be walking out of that courthouse tomorrow, a free man, and there won't be a thing that McGarrett can do about it."

Kamaru relaxed as he flashed the lawyer a small relieved smile. "Mahalo, Ken."

Travis nodded before he turned and knocked on the door. Stepping past the guard as the door opened, he left the room without looking back. Walking down the corridor, back towards the reception to sign out, he silently decided that even though Kamaru had just promised to keep his mouth shut, the man was definitely a huge liability, one that was going to need to be dealt with sooner rather than later.

XXXX


End file.
